


Linksona Drabbles

by Taimat



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14054490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taimat/pseuds/Taimat
Summary: Collecting all of my little drabbles from the LinksonaParty on Twitter here so I don't lose them!





	1. Ruby and Macha - Meeting

The first thing Macha heard was a faint expletive on the wind, which he didn't much pay attention to.

The next thing he heard was the shrieks of bokoblins and the stamping of feet.

By the time he thought that maybe he should be paying attention, there was another curse and a sharp lurch as his little raft skidded off the coast and into open water.

He sat up with a gasp and was nearly bowled over by the gust from a korok leaf; then he settled back purposefully onto his hands and drew his feet up onto the raft, as all they were doing was dragging the little craft slower in the water. Macha tilted his head upward, and in the glare of the sun beheld a very familiar face.

It was almost unsettling, how much the shape of the jaw, how much those wide blue eyes resembled his own…

Shaking his head, Macha squinted at the light being reflected off a large assortment of jewels and metals and made a soft, questioning noise. He wasn't really perturbed, as maybe he should be. But he was curious as to who this man was, why he'd commandeered Macha’s raft, and where exactly they were going.

Once they'd made it out of range of the bokoblin’s rocks, the other man dropped to his knees and laid the korok leaf to rest, lips parted as he panted. Long hair hung in loose waves down his back, and a crown of flowers perched askew on the top of his head. He was draped in silks and scarves and jewelry, which was all well and good, but the thing that was most unsettling was the blood.

It was…everywhere. Splattered up his legs and woven through his hair and even smeared across his forehead where he'd obviously tried to sweep hair out of his eyes. The painted red of his lips and smudged makeup around his eyes only mirrored the red everywhere else.

For a moment, Macha felt underdressed, clad in clothes that were much too old and much too big for him. But then, he reasoned, at least he was the cleaner of the two of them.

“Hello!” came a bright, sparkling greeting. “Thanks for letting me use your raft! Sorry about that. I would've asked, but my last lance just broke and all I've got left is my scimitar that I'm kinda holding onto, just in case. Um. I'm Ruby.”

Macha slowly took the proffered hand and stared up at him, blinking, then tugged his hand free and tried to wipe it surreptitiously against his trousers.

“Sorry, sorry. I know I'm a mess right now.” Ruby laughed a little. “But on the bright side, my house isn't far, if you'll let me borrow your raft for a little while longer. And I've got a few foxes packed away that I'm meaning to stew up. Would you like some? As a thank you?”

Macha blinked at the torrent of words and slowly nodded, unsure what else was expected of him.

“Well, then.” Ruby crossed his legs and propped his chin on his hand. “Let’s hope it's smooth sailing from here.”

His grin was as bright as the sun.


	2. Clover - Age 10 (A Narrarion)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based off a doodle that @joycactus drew~

He watches her hands, the most. They're so long and elegant, unlike his stubby, ungraceful fingers. Clover pouts down at them.

“What's wrong, sweetheart?” she asks.

“Nothing, mama,” he mumbles.

There's magic in the way she wields the pencil, and it makes him want to do the same.

Clover keeps on pouting.

It takes him days to work up the courage. Days of watching Canela do her makeup and then leave the supplies on her dresser table. Days of sitting eagerly on her bed and watching her make those beautiful lines, so like his own wax color scribbles but so, so much more.

She tells him to come to breakfast, and he nods absentmindedly. But the moment she leaves the room, he scrambles forward, small hands groping at a table taller than he is and feeling, feeling for the magical stick that would make him just as pretty as his mama.

Tiny fingers close on it at last, and he drags the eyeliner down with a triumphant little noise.

It looks innocuous, sitting in his palm. The wooden stick has been carefully shaved down over time to bare more of the creamy red center to light, and Clover handles it with trembling hands, feeling like he's holding fairy dust and no less excited.

With something like a squeal, he tries to trace around his eyes. The pencil pulls and tugs at his skin, and the tip breaks away at one point, but he doesn't give up. He's too small to see himself in the mirror, so he goes on feel. Across the top of his left lid, going up to his eyebrows the way his mama does it…

He's so focused on his task that he doesn't notice Canela’s return, and once he does, he pokes himself in the eye in surprise.

The pencil falls to the ground, and Clover’s hands come up over the injury, eyes already watering and spilling over, little sobs bubbling up from his chest both from pain and from nervousness.

But she doesn't yell, doesn't even scold. Instead, she drops to her knees in front of him and holds him close, shushing him and checking him intently to make sure he's done no real damage. By the time he’s quieted down, most of the eyeliner has smeared off, and what hasn't, Canela rubs gently away with a cloth from her table.

“Clover, why didn't you ask me?” Her voice is soft, and it makes him feel even more ashamed.

“I wanted… I w-wanted…” He hiccups and falls silent, eyes trained firmly on the ground.

With a sigh, she picks up the pencil from the floor, scrutinizing it, and then Clover can hear her reaching for the small knife so she can pare away more of the wood.

“If you want to do this, we're going to do it properly.”

Clover’s head snaps up. “Do you mean it?”

In reply, Canela kneels on the floor again and holds her arms out. “Come here, sweetheart. I'll teach you how.”

This time, the eyeliner does not pull at his skin. And it doesn't poke him in the eye. He closes his eyes when he's told, tilts his head this way and that, and it feels like both the barest stretch of time and an eternity has passed when his mother at last sets the makeup down again.

And then she kisses him on the top of his head and snatches him up, spinning around to the tune of his happy giggle, then sets him against her hip. From here, he can see himself in her mirror, and Clover reaches up to touch his face, wondering if it's real, wondering if it's really him.

“Do you like it?”

She asks.

He hiccups, stares at her and then back to his reflection, and stutters out, “I love it!”

That day, she buys him a magic pencil of his very own.


	3. Derek - Cuccoos, Ahoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Derek belongs to @reindhold on Twitter!

Derek - Cuccoos, Ahoy!

When Cado first spots them, it's a little…offputting. They're wandering wide-eyed around Kakariko Village with some kind of…large leaf tied to their face. At least it has eye holes cut into it, but that isn't the point.

Imagine Cado’s surprise when the youth scampers up to him of all people.

“Er…” Cado begins.

The conversation concludes with Derek strides purposefully off to begin finding Cado’s lost cuccoos, and the man sighs, wondering if he oughtn’t to have entrusted this task to someone else. But beggars couldn't be choosers, he supposed.

~~~~~~~

The first is easy to find. It's just a little ways up the road, and Derek crows joyfully as they sprint back downhill to the cuccoo farm.

The fourth is a little difficult, being up near a shrine that they have to attend to, first. But soon enough, they're soaring down to the farm on feathered wings, cuccoo held high over their head like a trophy.

The fifth, they have to plan for. The first time they set foot in the garden, the elderly woman standing nearby shoos them away, apparently undeterred by their korok mask and the skip in their step. So Derek plans. They come back under the cover of night and slip over the fence, careful not to get their scarf caught on any stray nails.

As soon as they snatch up the cuccoo, it lets out a shriek, and Derek can't help it. They shriek too, in glee, then hop the fence and gallavant all the way back to Cado’s farm.

The last one is the trickiest. It's all the way over on the roof of the clothing store, and Derek isn't entirely sure how to get over there. But after a moment's thought, they fluff up their scarf, staring hard at it.

Then, with a little shrug, they jump.

Poofing out spectacularly, the scarf acts as a glider and carries Derek all the way across town, where they land with a soft thud on the thatched roof. The cuccoo, for its part, doesn't seem to care, and it stares back at them in impenetrable silence when Derek clucks at it. There's a pause, and then the cuccoo lets out a crow loud enough to wake the whole village, which would probably be fine, were it not two in the morning.

As it stands, Derek hiccups in surprise and grabs at it, soaring down gracefully as if they've been flying by bird their whole life.

…they probably have.

Once the last cuccoo has been returned to the pen, Derek dashes off to Impa’s house to find Cado, their scarf fluttering out behind them.

~~~~~~~

When Derek makes it back, Cado can't contain his surprise. All ten cuccoos? Back home? Praise the goddesses!

But then he realizes that he's standing guard and can't rush off back home. And he doesn't have anything on him to give Derek as a reward. But he has to give them something, anything…

With a sigh, he reaches out to pat the youth on the head and is surprised when he finds himself in a tight embrace, in return, leaf mask crumpling slightly where it's crushed against his chest. And in thanks, the smaller Hylian seems to be…cooing?

Cado blinks and picks a cuccoo feather out of Derek’s hair. He looks up toward his farm, then back down, and just decides not to ask. But maybe…maybe it would be nice for the cuccoos to have a visitor now and then.


	4. Tea and Macha - Satisfaction

The soil is warm around his fingers, and he swears he can feel the damp through his gloves. He should probably be digging with the trowel, but he's satisfied doing this by hand. Another small divot covered, and Tea tosses his head, trying to unstick the dirty blond tendrils from his forehead.

It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Sighing to himself, he glances up at Ruby's house. The other man isn't home, but he's left it unlocked so Tea can go in and out as he pleases. Tea wonders if he should wash up before going home, but then he decides that he'd rather get his own bath muddy than dirty up Ruby's unnecessarily.

With a roll of his shoulders, he goes back to planting carrots.

It's been seasons since Ruby had offered the land to him. There's a lot more space here than there is across the bridge, where his own house stands, and since Ruby loves hunting and gathering but has little patience for agriculture, it had been an obvious offer. Now, the previously barren acreage is full of new seedlings, having borne several generations of carrots and pumpkins already. Tea is trying endura carrots this year, and he is already excited for the harvest.

The crop of wheat rustles in the breeze, and it reminds Tea to paraglide down to check on his little rice paddy. But that can wait for a moment. For now, it's another trip back to the compost heap and another torn packet of seeds.

There are already special crops growing throughout Hyrule, as Tea is far from the only farmer living there, but endura carrots are still few and far between. Combined with their benefits, demand is high, and he's looking forward to making a few pretty rupees off sales. Between his growing and Ruby's gathering, they're never without food, even including Macha's rumbling stomach, and there's usually enough leftover to sell for the money to buy clothes and other goods.

It's a simple life, much simpler than Ruby's, and certainly much simpler than it had been before Calamity Ganon was vanquished.

He suppresses a shudder. Ganon. No sense thinking about that now.

With a little growl, Tea digs the shovel into the compost.

"Are you already irritated?" The voice is amused, and despite the sudden dark mood, it makes Tea smile. "But you're doing your favorite thing! Getting all dirty and smelly so that I have to hose you down once you get home."

Tea sighs. "It's not that bad, Macha. Besides, at least I'm being productive."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But hey, I came to keep you company! Provide a little ambience, you know?"

Tea sighs again, but out of happiness rather than annoyance. "I'd…like that."

"Thought so." Without another word, Macha brandishes his banjo like a weapon. "Prepare to be ambianced!" And then he slings the strap over his shoulder and begins to play.

He's sweet, Macha is. Despite the occasional rough edges. And by the goddesses…Tea likes him.

The thought still makes him blush, despite the fact that they've been sharing a home for what feels like ages now and a bed for even longer than that. It's hard for him, to let himself feel things other than fear and a faint wave of nausea, but Macha, well… Macha brings it out in him.

The other Hylian doesn't mention it when Tea reaches up to push his hair out of his face, no doubt smearing soil all over himself, and for that, Tea is grateful. He needs a moment to compose himself. And Macha seems to know that.

The gentle notes of Macha's banjo float on the air, and Tea breathes deep. He smells good earth, rich fertilizer, the water down below and the sweetness of the grass. He can smell himself and the sweat of a hard day's work, and if he focuses hard enough he swears he can smell Macha's herb-infused shampoo.

Satisfied, Tea goes back to planting carrots. All is well.


End file.
